Babysat

Chapter 1
Babysat

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Chapter Description: How come all the finger paintings by the little girl have different names, none of which are hers?

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BABYSAT

Copyright SKJAM! 2006

Ann checked her cellphone’s clock. Excellent, right on time. The Pederson residence was a bit far to walk; she’d probably want to cadge a ride home when the job was over.

The Pedersons lived in a decent-sized ranch house, painted a soothing beige color with white trim. A tricycle by the front door proclaimed the existence of a child nearby, but otherwise the lawn was neatly trimmed and free of debris. Ann was pleased to see that, as it meant organized parents.

Ann walked up and rang the doorbell. After a moment, the door opened to reveal a balding man a little taller than Ann, dressed in formal wear. "Ah," he said, "you must be Miss Carstairs."

"Call me Ann."

"You came highly recommended by Cindy...though it is unfortunate that she couldn’t make it tonight."

"Yeah. Something came up." Ann remembered Cindy calling her the previous night to beg for coverage.

"Like, I totally forgot that I had babysitting, and like, Johnny’s going to be in the big race, so I, like, absotively have to go cheer him," Cindy had said. It was kind of weird that she’d blown her schedule like that, Cindy was normally very mature, but if it got her some money, Ann didn’t mind. And Cindy normally didn’t overuse "like" either, but that was probably due to being excited about Johnny.

"Won’t you come in, Ann?" asked Mr. Pederson as he moved out of the way, adjusting his tie.

The interior of the house was rather messier than the yard, though still quite clean for a home with a small child. The furnishings were tasteful, and there were child locks on all the kitchen cabinets. The refrigerator was covered in finger paintings, most of houses as nearly as could be made out. Ann suddenly noticed that the signature scrawled on the painting closest to her face was "Cindy."

"Isn’t your daughter named Emily?" Ann asked.

"That’s right," said Mr. Pederson. "She likes to put the babysitters’ names on the paintings."

On closer examination, Ann discovered that there were different names on most of the paintings. "Oh, I see."

"Emily is quite talented," came a female voice. Ann turned around to see Mrs. Pederson, who was wearing a very nice formal dress and far too much makeup. Ann hoped she wouldn’t fall into that trap when she got older.

Mrs. Pederson continued, "And she’s very imaginative. I have to admit, though, that Emily’s a bit hardheaded. If she wants to play a game, the best thing to do is just go along."

"Don’t worry about a thing," Ann hastened to assure the parents. "I have plenty of babysitting experience." Not as much as some of the other girls in the neighborhood, Ann didn’t mention, but lately they’d mostly gone out of the business.

The Pedersons gave Ann a quick rundown of emergency numbers, house rules and when they expected to be back (just past midnight.) Ann noticed they seemed to be very experienced at this, unlike some parents who nearly went into a panic trying to remember all the details.

Ann finished taking notes, and said, "I’ve got it all down."

"Excellent, Ann." Mrs. Pederson raised her voice a bit. "Come out, Emily, the babysitter’s here."

A child emerged from what was probably the living room. Emily looked to be about five, or perhaps six at the oldest, but she carried herself with a dignity well beyond her years. "I’m here, Mother." Emily was wearing a cute light blue dress, and shoes with laces, which impressed Ann. Most girls Emily’s age wore velcro these days.

"This is Ann," explained Mr. Pederson. "She’s your sitter for tonight, so behave appropriately."

Emily curtsied prettily. "I’m pleased to meet you, Ann."

"Likewise, Emily." Ann smiled. If Emily kept up the mannerly act even after her parents were gone, this would be the easiest babysitting job ever.

Mr. Pederson glanced at his watch. "Oh, we do need to get going if we want to keep our reservations." He bent and hugged his daughter, and Mrs. Pederson did the same, with the addition of a quick cheek kiss.

"Bye-bye, Mother, Father." Emily kept waving until her parents had gotten all the way out the door, and then walked to the window to continue waving.

While Emily was distracted, Ann got her totebag off and situated her gear. She’d have to do some homework at some point, and check in with Mark, her boyfriend. She wasn’t foolish enough to have him actually come over while she was working, but it would be good to hear his voice.

The gentle roar of a well-tuned auto signaled the departure of the Pedersons, and Emily turned away from the window.

"Will you play with me, Ann?" Emily had turned on the puppy eyes look.

Ann recalled the Pedersons’ advice. "Sure, kiddo. What do you want to play?"

"House!" squealed the little girl, leading the way into the living room. As they passed the dining room, Ann noticed a high chair. Emily was too old for that; perhaps there was a infant cousin or something that visited frequently.

It was a bit messier than the rest of the house, with toys scattered around, but still neatly arranged to leave clear space. Emily was apparently a very organized child.

Emily spread out a blanket on the floor, then hauled over a toy kitchen set, and a baby doll. "I’ll be the Mommy, and you be the baby."

Ann wasn’t terribly surprised. A number of the little girls she’d babysat liked this role reversal, and it was a harmless way of bonding with the kid. She sat down on the blanket and accepted the doll from Emily.

"Now, Mommy will work in the kitchen, while Baby Ann plays with her dolly." Emily suited action to words, moving plastic dishes in and out of the sink as though she were washing them.

Ann looked at the doll. It was a well-worn baby doll; the nightie had faded to an off-white, and she could see faint teethmarks on its plastic limbs. Noticing that Emily was looking at her expectantly, Ann began cuddling the doll and singing a lullaby.

It was kind of fun, pretending to sing the doll to sleep. When she ran out of lullabies she remembered, Ann set the doll down and was about to stand up.

Emily strode over. "Is Baby Ann tired of the dolly? Now Baby Ann can play with her blocks." She tipped a small tub filled with wooden alphabet blocks out in front of Ann.

Ann shrugged. It was still early. She could play along a little bit longer. She sorted the blocks by colot, and began arranging them into various words. It was trickier than she’d thought at first, because not all of the letters could be used at the same time. And some of the blocks only had numbers or shapes instead. Bored with the word search, Ann tried building various structures.

She was startled when a clock chimed the hour. It hadn’t seemed like that long since they’d started the game. Ann scooped the blocks back into the tub and stood up. "Well, kiddo, it’s been fun, but I have things I have to do."

Emily’s face crinkled in rage. "You can’t go, Baby Ann! Mommy wants you to stay here and play house!"

Ann felt a bit afraid for some reason. "Now, Emily honey, I’m a grownup and I have responsibilities to do grownup things. I can’t spend all night playing baby."

"Baby Ann will do as she’s told, or Mommy will spank!"

Ann laughed. "Oh, now, you’re just being ridiculous." She turned to go.

A couple of steps later, Ann found herself pitching forward, her feet swept from under her. Fortunately, her face stopped about a foot from the floor. Looking backwards, Ann saw that somehow, Emily had gotten a chair in front of her, then arranged so that Ann would fall right across her lap. Weirdly, even though her weight should be crushing the little girl, Ann was somehow managing to balance just fine.

"Mommy warned you," said Emily gravely. "Now Mommy will spank Baby Ann."

Ann squirmed, but she couldn’t seem to get off Emily’s lap or touch the ground. "What th--"

To her shock, Ann felt her jeans being slipped off her butt, followed by her panties. She twisted to get a better look, and saw her pale rump. Somehow, Emily had managed to pull down jeans that practically took a shoehorn to get on, and without unfastening the belt.

Her neck was strained, so Ann turned back again, and then felt a small hand smacking her rear end. It hurt! That slap was followed by another, and another, and kept right on going.

The pain wasn’t really all that bad, but Ann felt humiliated being spanked by such a little girl. She felt ashamed and helpless, like a baby, unable to resist. Soon she was sobbing, tears freely flowing down her cheeks.

Finally, the spanking stopped, and Ann was released to the floor. After she collected herself a bit, Ann stood and pulled up her pants, noting that her sore butt made it even more of a chore than usual.

Emily had her hands on her hips. "Now, Baby Ann will be a good little girl and do as Mommy tells her, right?"

Ann tried to say something sarcastic, but although she towered over Emily, somehow the little girl felt bigger to her. And she didn’t want to get spanked again. "Yes, Emily."

"Say ’Yes, Mommy.’"

"Yes, Mommy."

"Good Baby."

Ann stood there for a moment, wondering what was happening here; she’d never experienced this sort of thing before while babysitting.

"Okay, you’ve been punished enough," declared Emily. "Now let’s play Barbies, Baby Ann!"

Ann knelt down on the blanket, careful not to put weight on her rump, as Emily brought over a trio of Barbie dolls, a Ken, and a box of clothes. Soon, Ann found herself fumbling to get outfits on and off the dolls as they went through the day. Emily was playing the grownup roles again, while Ann’s Barbie was the young daughter. Every so often, Emily would throw in a plot twist that left Ann struggling to keep up.

Some time later, there was a ringing sound from the dining room. It was Ann’s cell phone, though it took her a moment to remember that. As she was about to stand up, Emily thrust a play phone in front of her.

"Mommy needs to answer the phone, so you stay here and play with this, Baby Ann."

Ann picked up the receiver, and said, "Hello", to which Barbie responded, "Let’s go to the mall!"

Meanwhile, Emily had disappeared into the next room. Ann could hear her answering the phone.

"Hello, Pederson residence. Oh, hello Mark."

It was Mark! Ann tried to stand up, but the blanket slipped, and she wound up on her hands and knees. "Mah!" she said, as she crawled towards the dining room.

"No, Ann can’t come to the phone right now, she’s a little busy." There was a gloating tone in Emily’s voice.

"Mah, mah, am coo ng," burbled Ann. Why couldn’t she talk right? And Emily was shutting the door right in front of her.

Ann looked at the doorknob. She knew she just had to reach up and--the thought slipped away. She couldn’t stand up, couldn’t even open a door. Ann felt small and helpless.

Emily could still be heard clearly. "I’ll certainly let her know you called, Mark, though I wouldn’t expect a call back tonight. She’s doing a really good babysitting job."

Tears began to sting Ann’s eyes. She wanted to talk to Mark so badly, and Emily wasn’t letting her. Finally the despair became too much for Ann, and she began Wailing.

"Oh, the baby is crying. Bye, Mark."

The door opened, and Emily walked in, carrying a box of facial tissues. "What’s wrong, Baby Ann?"

"I wanna talk t’ my boyfriend an’ you shut the door an’," Ann started wailing again.

Emily started wiping Ann’s face with a tissue. "Silly Baby Ann, you having a boyfriend is just pretend. Babies don’t have boyfriends, they have playmates. Now, if you’re very good, perhaps another night you can have a playdate with little Mark."

"You promise?" asked Ann, oddly already feeling better.

"Sure, why not? Blow." Emily held a tissue firmly to Ann’s nose. After Ann complied, Emily took the snot-soaked papers over to a wastebasket and disposed of them.

Emily looked up at the clock. "Oh, it’s time for Mommy to make supper, so I’ll put on a video for Baby Ann to watch." She turned on the television, which was already set to a blank channel, and pulled out a videotape. "Here we go, Teletubbies."

"Teletubbies is for babies!" complained Ann.

"Yes, Baby Ann, it is. That’s why you like it so much, don’t you?" Emily inserted the video, and the sickly sweet music began playing as the program began.

Ann found her attention inexorably drawn to the screen, as the oddly-shaped creatures went about their incomphrehensible daily life. She could almost feel her brain cells dying, but somehow it seemed unimportant. Inviting smells came in from the dining room, and Ann noticed that she was drooling. Trying to wipe it off, a finger slipped into her mouth, and Ann found sucking on it to be very relaxing. She knew she should be worried about something, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what, and maybe it didn’t matter.

By the time the credits rolled, Ann had nearly forgotten what she’d been waiting for, but Emily came in to announce, "Dinner’s ready, Baby Ann!" Emily took Ann’s hand and led her into the dining room.

The high chair had been put next to the table, and Emily pulled Ann towards it. "I’m not going to fit into that," Ann pointed out.

"Yes, you are, Baby Ann," replied Emily, guiding Ann into the seat. Somehow, Ann was able to fit in, even when Emily swung the tray in fron of her and locked it in place. Then Emily tied a bib with a kitten on it around Ann’s neck.

Dinner was a plate of macaroni and cheese, small seedless orange slices, and a sippy cup of milk. Emily stood on another chair to help Ann negotiate the process of eating with her spork. Even though Ann knew perfectly well that she was fully capable of eating in an adult manner, somehow all the niceties of table manners slipped away when she tried to remember them, and she wound up needing Emily to assist her in getting the food actually in her mouth rather than elsewhere. Weirdly, Ann didn’t feel resentful about this, but grateful instead.

Once Ann had eaten, Emily removed the plate, then wiped Ann’s face with a damp cloth and untied the bib. Ann couldn’t figure out how to get out of the high chair by herself, and was grateful when Emily returned from the kitchen and unlocked the tray.

Ann eased herself to the floor, and discovered that she could stand on her own again. This made her feel very grown-up. She’d only gone a few steps, however, when she nearly stumbled over a bag. That was hers! Ann remembered that she had intended to do her homework, and fished one of her books out of the bag. She returned to the table, and sat down in one of the normal chairs. It almost surprised her that she could do so without needing a booster.

She opened the book and stared at it for a little while. Ann recognized most of the letters, but they’d gotten all scrambled up into patterns she couldn’t read. What kind of word was "through", anyway? How did you pronounce it? She couldn’t even tell what the book was supposed to be about!

"Baby Ann’s pretending to read?" asked Emily, who’d returned from the kitchen. "Silly girl, babies don’t have homework. But I bet you’d like to finger paint, wouldn’t you?"

Ann gratefully set down the book, because trying to fathom it had been giving her a headache. "Okay, Mommy."

Newspaper was spread on the table and paints set out. There was a shallow bowl of water for Ann to wash her fingers between colors, and a sippy cup for her to drink from.

Emily smiled maternally. "Go ahead, Baby Ann. Why don’t you make a picture of your house? Mommy will be just over here, looking over the accounts, and I’ll fetch you some more water whenever you like."

Ann settled in to painting. Her house was brown, so she started with that color, then added the red trim, and blue sky and a big yellow sun. Grass and flowers, and some clouds. This was thirsty work, and Ann found herself asking for cup after cup of water. She decided to paint in her family too. Daddy and Mommy (the other one, not Emily) and her brother Tommy--was he her big brother, or her little one? She sort of remembered him being littler than her, but he was eleven years old, which had to make him bigger. Ann decided to make both of them the same size because it was easier.

Finally, Ann was satisfied. "All done, Mommy."

Emily came over to look. "Don’t forget to sign it, Baby Ann."

So Ann dipped her finger into the black paint again and wrote out her name. She couldn’t quite remember which way the diagonal went on the "N", so she did one of each.

"Very good, Baby Ann! Mommy’s so proud of you. This’ll go right up on the refrigerator." Ann was very pleased by this compliment.

Ann caught a glimpse of herself in a wall mirror. She’d gotten paint everywhere on her face and arms and clothes. She giggled at the sight.

Emily said, "I see it’s bathtime, Baby Ann." Ann wasn’t too thrilled about the notion, but allowed herself to be pulled to the bathroom.

The tub was already full. "Mommy knew this would happen," explained Emily, "so I drew the bath a few minutes ago. That gave the water time not to be too hot for Baby Ann."

Ann struggled with her buttons and the zipper on her jeans. But the fastener on her bra defeated her entirely.

"Don’t worry, Baby Ann. Squat down, and Mommy will help you with that." Emily was as good as her word, but the bra had started Ann thinking again.

As she was slipped into the tepid water, Ann said, "I have boobies. But only grown-up girls have boobies, not babies. And Mommy doesn’t have boobies. So that means that I’m--"

"Thinking too hard," interrupted Emily. "Babies shouldn’t think about that sort of thing. They should just relax and enjoy their bath." She handed Ann a squeaky yellow rubber duck.

Ann lost her train of thought, fascinated by the squeaking sound, and splashing merrily. It felt good to have Mommy scrub away the paint and sweat.

After Ann was clean, Emily started drying her off with a big fluffy towel. That felt good too, but something else didn’t, low in her tummy.

"What’s the matter, Baby Ann?" asked Emily, seeing Ann fidget.

"I hafta go potty, Mommy."

Emily nodded. "Well, we don’t have to go very far." She led Ann over to a small plastic container and lifted the lid. "Baby Ann will use the training potty."

The potty looked way too small, and Ann’s knees were nearly up to her chin, but somehow it seemed to fit fine, and it felt right in Ann’s head that she should use this and not the grown-up toilet.

After Ann’s business was concluded, Emily helped her wipe, then sprinkled some talcum powder on Ann’s butt. "Now it’s time to get you ready for bed."

"But Mommy, it’s still way early and--*ngaaa*" Ann blinked. Where had that yawn come from? And suddenly, she was kind of sleepy.

"See? Now, you’ll need one of these." Emily held up a padded undergarment festooned with little pink clouds.

Ann felt angry. "I don’t want a diaper!"

Emily smiled reassuringly. "Now, now, Baby Ann. You should be happy that you get the big girl pull-up diapers. Now help Mommy get you into them."

Ann still wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but knew that she didn’t want to disobey Mommy, so complied. The padding actually felt nice and snug when it was on. It made her feel...safe.

"And now, Baby Ann’s nightie."

This proved to be a white baby-doll nightie with pink lace trim. It didn’t quite go down far enough, so Ann could still see the bottom of her diaper when she looked in the mirror. She looked weird, like a very tall baby. But she was a baby, so that must be right.

Ann yawned again, but Emily made her brush her teeth, and gave her a large glass of water to drink.

Emily led Ann to a bedroom, which was decorated for a female infant. Ann helped tuck herself in, then Emily raised the guardrail on the side of the bed opposite the wall.

Ann asked, "Mommy, can you tell me a bedtime story?"

"Sure, Baby Ann. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful and powerful sorceress, who ruled a country far across the sea. She was as wise as she was beautiful, and ruled justly though firmly. Rather than kill criminals and rebels, she would reshape their bodies and minds so that they became useful members of society again.

"But there came to the land a band of ruthless and clever adventurers, who didn’t like the fact that the sorceress ruled the country and they didn’t. They devised a way to turn the sorceress’ own spells against her, turning her into a newborn infant. And just to make sure that she’d never reclaim her land, the wicked men sent the baby sorceress many millenia into the future.

"The sorceress was adopted by a kindly but rather clueless childless couple, and they started raising her as their own. Yes, that sorceress was me. At first I was trapped completely--though I had all my memories, I could only interpret them with a newborn’s mind. But eventually, my new parents felt safe enough to allow me to be babysat for a few hours. And I discovered something wonderful!"

"What was that, Mommy?" asked Ann.

"I could leech off a little of the babysitter’s maturity, allowing me to think more clearly, and allowing me some access to my powers." Emily smiled unpleasantly. "It didn’t last too long at first, but the next time the babysitter came around, I used my time more wisely.

"Over the last few years, I’ve managed to get my hooks into a lot of babysitters. I can take as much maturity as I feel like, manipulating it as I please, and even distort reality so that the people who see my manipulations think everything is perfectly normal. My adoptive parents have long since stopped questioning what I’m up to.

"Tomorrow morning, I’m going to lend back most of your maturity. Of course, I’ll be able to reduce you to infancy at any time, so you’ll have an incentive to obey my orders, just like all the other babysitters I’ve had. One day, not so long from now, I’ll have the power I need to take over this city, and eventually, perhaps, the world. It will be good to rule again." Emily’s smile became maternal again. "Pleasant dreams, Baby Ann."

Emily left the room, switching off the light and leaving only a small nightlight glowing in the room.

Ann fretted. This was awful! She had to escape, to tell someone what was happening. Right after she took a short nap, though. She was awfully sleepy.

"Wake up, Sleepyhead,"

Ann opened her eyes. She was back in her own room, and there was her own mother. It had all been a dream!

"Mr. Pederson drove you back from their house last night. You’d already fallen asleep."

"Oh." Ann pulled off the covers and sat up, only to notice that she was still wearing the baby doll nightie--and the diaper. And from the feel of it, she’d used the diaper in the night.

"Eww." Then Ann remembered her mother was in the room, and quickly said, "This isn’t what it looks like."

Her mother’s smile was indulgent. "Oh, Ann, it’s all right. It’s perfectly normal for teenage girls to have little accidents. That’s why you wear your night padding."

Sure enough, there was a half-empty box next to the bed of "Sporty Brand Teenager Diapers", with a picture of Hillary Duff modeling the product.

Ann shuddered. She realized now that she couldn’t tell anyone what had happened, because Emily would just convince them that it was normal for Ann to act that way. And at any moment, Emily could take everything, turning Ann into a helpless baby.

There was nothing to do but cry.

FIN

Comments, questions?

 

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